Enjoy $300 as a new Chase checking customer, when you open a Chase Premier Plus CheckingSM account and set up direct deposit. This is our recommended Checking account for the added benefits. Full Review

Get up to $350 when you open a new Chase Total Checking® account with Direct Deposit and/or open a new Chase SavingsSM account, deposit $10,000 or more in new money and maintain a $10,000 balance for 90 days. Full Review

Earn $200 when you open a new Chase Total Business Checking® account, deposit $1,000 in new money within 10 business days of account opening, maintain that balance for 60 days and complete five qualifying transactions within 60 days. Full Review

Open a new TD Bank Premier CheckingSM account online to earn a $300 bonus. Or, open a new TD Bank Convenience CheckingSM account online to earn a $150 bonus. Both offers have a direct deposit requirement. Full Review

Apply for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® and earn 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. This is one of the best credit card bonuses for a travel card. Full Review

Open an online Money Market Account from CIT Bank (available nationwide) and earn a 1.75% APY rate on all balances. There’s no monthly service charge and the minimum opening deposit is just $100. Full Review

By: Tony Phan | Last Updated: January 23, 2018 | This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program. Please visit our Advertiser Disclosure for additional details.

The Capital One® Venture® Rewards credit card has an offer for 50,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months. When you redeem towards travel, these bonus miles are worth $500.

The big selling point of this card is that it earns an ongoing, unlimited 2% rate when you redeem towards travel. So, unlike a cash back credit card, you won’t get the maximum value for your rewards unless you use them for travel specific redemption.

As of the 4th quarter of 2017 the annual fee has risen to $95 (it’s waived the first year), which is quite a jump up from the previous $59 annual fee. Without a doubt, this makes the decision process a tad more difficult. It would appear as though Capital One wants to showcase this card as a worthy competitor to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® credit card. And similar to the Sapphire Preferred® card, the Venture® card is now even available in metal. With this updated higher annual fee, it’s now even more difficult to pick the Capital One® Venture® card over it’s other main competitor, the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM card.

We’ll review the bonus offer for the Venture card below.

Capital One® Venture® Rewards Bonus

The 50,000 bonus miles are going to be worth $500 if you redeem towards travel. You can redeem for past travel purchases that have been made in the last 90 days, or you can use your miles towards booking new travel. The $3,000 spending requirement is pretty standard for a bonus of this level.

You can use your miles to book your flight, car rental, or hotel. If you use your miles for past travel purchases, these categories of travel are eligible:

Airlines

Hotels

Rail Lines

Car Rental Agencies

Limousine Services

Bus Lines

Cruise Lines

taxi cabs

Travel Agents

Time Shares

The ongoing rewards rate is 2 miles for every dollar that you spend on all purchases, which equals to 2% as 100 miles is equal to $1 in travel rewards. This is a great earnings rate for a card that isn’t tied to any airline or hotel. The flexibility keeps things simple.

One of the main competitors to this card is the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM, which also earns 2 miles per dollar on all purchases. However, you’ll also receive 5% in bonus miles at redemption, which makes the rewards rate valued at 2.1% towards travel. This card earns more than the Venture® card, and no longer has a higher annual fee.

For people who like to travel and keep rewards simple and flexible, the Capital One® Venture® card is worth taking a look over. Rewards are good and there are no foreign transaction fees to worry about, but the higher updated annual fee will make this card less competitive.

Enjoy a one-time bonus of 50,000 miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months of approval, equal to $500 in travel

Earning Your 50,000 Bonus Miles

If you think you’ll have trouble meeting the $3,000 spending requirement within 3 months of approval, below are some ideas that might help out.

Purchase gift cards to restaurants, grocery stores, and shopping retailers that you’ll end up spending at eventually anyway. These retailer branded cards typically don’t involve Purchase Fees and many restaurants have promotions for added bonus value. American Express and Visa Gift Cards will give you more flexibility in spending, but they will incur roughly $4 to $6 in Purchase Fees. Save with Amex gift card promotions here. *Be sure to call in to set your Cash Advance limit to $0 as card issuers like Citi have a tendency to categorize gift card purchases as Cash Advances.

You can fund many new Checking and Savings accounts with your credit card and possibly earn bank sign-up bonuses at the same time. For example, you can fund up to $500 using a credit card with Chase Bank and earn one of their Checking or Savings account bonuses. TD Bank also typically has $100 to $300 in Checking promotions to take advantage of, and you can fund up to $300 with a credit card towards the opening deposit. See eligible funding banks and bonuses:

What’s The Competition?

The Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® offers a 40,000 miles bonus when you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 90 days of account opening. When you redeem these miles for travel purchases, they're worth $420 due to the 5% in bonus miles you get back every time you redeem for travel.This card has an annual fee of $89 that's waived for the first year, and will earn an ongoing rate of 2 miles per $1 on all purchases. That's basically earning 2% if you redeem towards travel, and 2.1% if you take into consideration the 5% bonus each redemption.If you like to travel, this is a great card worth considering for the flexibility in miles usage without being tied to any airline or hotel. Also, there are no foreign transaction fees to be concerned with. For users who don't travel often, we recommend considering other options. Full Review

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® credit card currently has an offer for 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Redeeming these bonus points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® program, which is praised by users, will get you $625 in value towards travel.

The 50K bonus points are worth $625 because you get 25% more value whenever you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Ongoing rewards with this card include earning 2 points per $1 on Travel and Dining at restaurants. The annual fee is $95, but it is waived for the first year. Full Review

Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®

The Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards card will earn a $150 bonus when you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months.The bonus offer is comparable to its top competitors, but this card earns a respectable 1.5% cash back on every purchase with no limit on how much you can earn. There are no spending categories to keep up with.

There's a 0% introductory APR on both Purchases and Balance Transfers for the first 9 months with this card. After the introductory period, the rate will be a variable 13.99%-23.99% APR. The Balance Transfer fee is 3% on the amounts transferred within the first 9 months. People like this card because of the cash back rate, the flexibility to redeem your cash back for any amount, and there's no annual fee. Full Review

One-time $150 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months of approval

Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day

No rotating categories or sign ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus, cash back doesn't expire and there's no limit to how much you can earn

0% intro APR on purchases for 9 months; 13.99%-23.99% variable APR after that

Balance transfers also have a 0% intro APR for 9 months; 13.99%-23.99% variable APR after that; a 3% fee applies to each balance transferred

The Discover it® Miles card doesn't come with an up-front sign-up bonus. Rather, it will match all the miles you've earned at the end of the first year (and only the first year). If you earned 20,000 miles during the first year, they will match it and you'll end up with 40,000 miles. With 100 miles equating to $1 towards travel redemption, your bonus miles in this scenario would be worth $200. So while you don't get the typical $100 bonus up-front like other no annual fee bonus cards, you're in control of possibly earning a much bigger bonus.

You'll earn 1.5 miles for every dollar you spend on all purchases, without limit. Spend $13,500 on purchases during that first year, and you will have earned more than a $200 bonus towards travel purchases ($13,500 X 1.5 = 20,250 miles). If you spend enough to make this card more valuable than no annual fee competitor card bonuses, the only major downsides to this card are: 1) Discover isn't as widely accepted as Visa/MasterCard. 2) You only get the maximum value for your miles towards travel purchases (unlike cash back cards). Full Review

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Match Mile For Mile: We’ll match all the Miles you’ve earned at the end of your first year. For example, if you earn 30,000 Miles, you get 60,000 Miles.

Unlimited 1.5x Miles per dollar on all purchases, every day, with no annual fee.

No Blackout Dates – fly any airline, stay at any hotel.

Redeem your Miles as a statement credit towards travel purchases.

Freeze your account in seconds with an on/off switch either on the mobile app or website to prevent new purchases, cash advances, and balance transfers.

Get your FICO® Credit Score for free on monthly statements, on mobile and online.

Earn a $200 bonus when you open a new Chase Total Checking® account and set up direct deposit. Also earn a $150 bonus when you open a new Chase SavingsSM account, deposit a total of $10,000 or more in new money within 10 days & maintain a $10,000 balance for 90 days. Apply for both offers and get a $350 total bonus. Full Review

Get $300 when you open a new Chase Premier Plus CheckingSM account and set up direct deposit. This account has more features than the Chase Total Checking® and the monthly service fee can be waived with a few different requirement options. A $300 Checking bonus is one of the best offers from Chase Bank. Full Review

Earn $200 when you open a new Chase Total Business Checking® account, deposit $1,000 in new money within 10 business days of account opening, maintain that balance for 60 days and complete five qualifying transactions within 60 days. This is the most popular Business Checking offer.Full Review

Apply for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® and earn 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. These 40K bonus miles are worth $420 in travel redemption. This is one of the best credit card bonus offers for a travel credit card. Full Review

Apply online for a new TD Bank Checking account to earn either a $300 bonus for the TD Premier Checking account ( $2,500 in direct deposits required), or a $150 bonus for the TD Convenience Checking account ($500 in direct deposits required). This is a limited time offer. Full Review

CIT Bank is offering a 1.55% APY rate with their Premier High Yield Savings account for all balances. This account is available online nationwide and consistently offers one of the best rates in the nation. The minimum opening deposit is $100 and there are no fees for opening or maintaining the account. Full Review

Ally Invest has a promotion where you can earn either 90 days of commission-free trades or a $200 cash bonus. The $200 bonus will require a deposit of at least $25,000 within 15 days of account opening and the execution of 3 trades within 90 days. The free trades offer will require a $10,000 minimum deposit. Full Review

Simple Bank has an offer where you can earn a $20 bonus after opening their free online Checking account that's available nationwide. You'll then be able to earn unlimited $20 referral bonuses. Direct deposit isn't a requirement and all you and your referrals need to do is open a new account and use the Simple Visa debit card to make a first purchase. Full Review

Apply for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® and earn 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. This is one of the best credit card bonus offers for a travel credit card.

Get up to $350 when you open a new Chase Total Checking® account with Direct Deposit and/or open a new Chase SavingsSMaccount, deposit $10,000 or more in new money and maintain a $10,000 balance for 90 days.

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*These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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Enjoy $300 as a new Chase checking customer, when you open a Chase Premier Plus CheckingSM account and set up direct deposit. This is our recommended Checking account for the added benefits. Full Review

Get up to $350 when you open a new Chase Total Checking® account with Direct Deposit and/or open a new Chase SavingsSM account, deposit $10,000 or more in new money and maintain a $10,000 balance for 90 days. Full Review

Earn $200 when you open a new Chase Total Business Checking® account, deposit $1,000 in new money within 10 business days of account opening, maintain that balance for 60 days and complete five qualifying transactions within 60 days. Full Review

Open a new TD Bank Premier CheckingSM account online to earn a $300 bonus. Or, open a new TD Bank Convenience CheckingSM account online to earn a $150 bonus. Both offers have a direct deposit requirement. Full Review

Apply for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® and earn 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. This is one of the best credit card bonuses for a travel card. Full Review

Open an online Money Market Account from CIT Bank (available nationwide) and earn a 1.75% APY rate on all balances. There’s no monthly service charge and the minimum opening deposit is just $100. Full Review

*Advertiser Disclosure: The credit card and banking offers that appear on this site are from credit card and banking companies from which MoneysMyLife.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). MoneysMyLife.com does not include all credit card and banking companies or all available credit card and banking offers. • This content is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the bank advertiser, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. This site may be compensated through the bank advertiser Affiliate Program.